Firefly Music Festival founding director's new project: Super Bowl LII

For his fourth and final year as founding director of the Firefly Music Festival in 2015, Greg Bostrom watched as Paul McCartney drew a record 90,000 fans to Dover for what arguably remains the fest's most magical moment.

With an experience like that under his belt, it shouldn't be a surprise that Bostrom is radiating calm this week in Minneapolis at the job he took in May 2016 as director of entertainment for the Minnesota Vikings.

The eyes of the world will soon be trained on U.S. Bank Stadium where Bostrom produces all elements of the fan's game day experience when it comes to videos, music, halftime and performances during Vikings home games.

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While the NFL will take over for Bostrom when it comes to everything from Justin Timberlake's halftime show to pre-game festivities, he's been working hand-in-hand with the league and their producers to ensure a smooth operation.

And he has advice they would probably want. In his two years with the Vikings, their in-house entertainment rating in the annual NFL Voice of the Fans survey went from 19th the year before Bostrom took over to No.1 this year.

Not bad for a 29-year-old.

For many, being director of an upstart music festival that blooms into one of the largest in the country sounds like a dream job. And for Bostrom, it was...until another dream job showed itself.

Bostrom is a Minnesota native who grew up as a Vikings fan. And when a friend who works with the team forwarded the job notice, he couldn't ignore it.

With the Vikings moving into the new 66,000-person U.S. Bank Stadium at the time and with the Super Bowl headed there two years later, Bostrom decided it was time to head home. And with the Vikings' new training facility and headquarters set to open in nearby Eagan later this year -- the town where Bostrom was raised -- it's a full circle moment.

"It was just the right fit at the right time," Bostrom says of his leap to Minnesota. "I'm working with a lot of people who I knew from following as a fan and now they're my co-workers. It's really cool."

Even though the NFL producers are doing much of the work that would fall on Bostrom and his team, he's worked Monday night's Super Bowl Opening Night and will be at the stadium on game day doing the same. With Timberlake on stage, he may need to double as wardrobe malfunction police at halftime.

Bostrom has yet to return to Firefly as a fan with other obligations keeping him away the last two years. But he says you just might see him there this summer.

"When we were planning Firefly, the ultimate dream was someday being able to enjoy what we built instead of stressing out," he says. "Maybe I'll be able to drink a beer next time."

During his time in Delaware, Bostrom earned bright reviews, including from Dover International Speedway CEO and President Michael Tatoian. Firefly leases the speedway's land, which they dubbed The Woodlands, and works closely with speedway officials each year.

They worked together for four years, starting when Bostrom was 24.

In Bostrom's final year they had both highs (McCartney's performance and the crowd size), but also major challenges, such as a giant thunderstorm scuttling Kings of Leons' headlining set, sending 90,000 people fleeing in what felt like a monsoon.

"I always felt that he was beyond his years in maturity. He exudes confidence and calm. In calm waters, every ship has a good captain. But it's really in the rough waters that you test their mettle," Tatoian says. "There's no other event in the world that has as many eyeballs on it than the Super Bowl, so this is a terrific opportunity for him. It's quite the resume-builder."

For Bostrom, one of his final memories on the Firefly grounds was seeing McCartney performing a cavalcade of Beatles hits to a throng of delirious fans.

It's a hell of a way to drop the mic, especially since Bostrom jokes that he listened to The Beatles from the time he was a week old.

"When you think about the industry I'm in now, you hear about a lot of people retiring after winning a Super Bowl," Bostrom says. "McCartney in some ways felt like the Super Bowl for me -- the timing was good."

Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).